John tapped on the open door frame the next morning and waited for the woman seated at the desk across the room to look up.
"Colonel Sheppard," Doctor Heightmeyer greeted. "Please, come in."
John stepped into the room and looked around. The shutters for the windows were all open, flooding the room with morning light.
"Nice view," John said as he walked around a pair of leather chairs situated in front of the windows and looked out on the city and the ocean.
Sunlight bounced off the windows of the buildings to his right. He glanced to his left and watched the wind blow the foam off the white caps on the surface of the ocean. Storm clouds darkened the horizon, and John remembered his conversation with Hedda about how scary and cool thunderstorms could be. He smiled to himself and considered taking a jumper to the mainland to watch the lightning show.
"Thank you for coming, Colonel," Doctor Heightmeyer said.
John turned with a nod as she closed the door and walked over to one of the chairs.
"Please," she added as she sat in one of the leather chairs and motioned with an open hand to the other chair.
John glanced at the chair, then at Heightmeyer. He sat on the edge of the chair with his arms crossed over his chest. "Did I have a choice?"
Heightmyer smiled. "Doctor Weir and I just want to be sure you are readjusting after what happened on P2J-621."
John blew out a breath and looked out the window. "I'm fine."
Heightmeyer sat back in her chair with her hands clasped loosely in her lap. "I can't imagine it's been easy for you."
John glanced over at her and tried to keep his expression neutral.
"The shock of learning that to the rest of us, you had been missing for only a few hours while for you it was several months," Heightmeyer explained. "The adjustment must be difficult."
John pushed himself to his feet and stood staring out the window as he rubbed his beardless chin.
"You ever meditate, Doc?" he asked with a glance over at Heightmeyer.
"I've joined Teyla in a few meditation sessions. I've found it was a good way to release tension."
John snorted. "Six months and all I got out of it was a nap."
Heightmeyer smiled. "What other things did you do in the sanctuary?"
John leant against the window, watching the water crash against the pier as it was whipped up by the wind of the oncoming storm. Rodney had asked the same thing over dinner the previous night. He had brushed off the question with a joke about picking up some pointers to pass along to the Athosians the next time they visited the mainland. The truth was, everything had still been too raw, too recent, and the last thing he had wanted was to play twenty questions with McKay's curiosity.
Thankfully, Rodney had caught on to John's mood and had changed the subject to the science conference, hinting once again that maybe John could come with him.
"It was pretty basic living," John replied. "Nothing like this." He nodded out the window at the buildings clustered on the far pier. "I did what I could to help out. Building better shelters, working in the orchards."
Heightmeyer studied him for a moment. "Do you miss it?"
John opened his mouth to say no, then stopped and shrugged. "It was maybe nice to not have world-ending crises to deal with all the time," he replied with a thin smile.
"So you were able to relax?"
John shook his head as he remembered days spent running through the countryside trying to stave off the boredom of not having much to do in the cloister, hoping each time he left the village, he would see his team in the distance coming to find him. He thought about his battles with the beast and waking up in bed, bloody and exhausted with no memory of what had happened.
"I wouldn't say relax exactly," John replied. "But the people were nice, if a little disconcerting."
"Disconcerting?" Heightmeyer asked.
"Yeah, you know." John waved his hand near his head. "It's kinda weird waking up after a fight and finding out your injuries were healed by someone touching you." John had a flash memory of healing Rodney's hand and rubbed his jaw. "Or hearing that someone had a vision of you arriving years before you showed up."
"The people in the sanctuary were clairvoyant?"
"Not all of them," John replied. "Just Teer."
Heightmeyer nodded. "It had to be a relief, then."
John turned and stared at Heightmeyer with a puzzled frown.
"When Teer told you your team hadn't forgotten about you. That they would be coming for you," Heightmeyer explained with an innocent expression.
"She didn't …" John turned his back on Heightmeyer and stared out at the churning ocean far below.
"I knew you were coming that night. And I knew where you would be in the field." Teer smiled at John and added, "And I have known since I was a child that you would sit here with me as you do now. I've been able to close my eyes and see your face my entire life, John."
Was he the only member of the expedition whose arrival Teer foresaw because he was the one that would show them how to ascend? John wondered as he rubbed his jaw. The reason Teer hadn't told him about Rodney and the others coming after him was because she really didn't know, right? It wasn't an attempt on her part to force him to follow her?
"Colonel Sheppard?" Heightmeyer asked. "Are you all right?"
John squeezed his eyes shut, forced his shoulders to relax, and turned around. "Yeah, umm, fine." He glanced at his watch and turned toward the door. "Look, this has been interesting and all, but I need to go now."
"Colonel," Heightmeyer said as John crossed the room and waved his hand over the door sensor.
"See you later, Doc," John replied and left the room.
~*~*~*~ SGA ~*~*~*~
Rodney sat at the work table in his lab, glaring at the computer screen in front of him. He had started and erased the beginning of his presentation at least a dozen times already. If he had been writing it out longhand, the floor would have been covered in balled up pieces of paper.
Thanks to living in the Pegasus galaxy, he had an understanding of astrophysics that likely rivalled anything anyone could dream of on Earth. The problem was, all of that knowledge was classified. Even if it wasn't, he doubted anyone would believe him if he were to give a lecture on theoretical wormhole travel or the physics of hyperdrive engines.
He sat back on the stool and crossed his arms over his chest. If he were brutally honest, he was more than a little nervous about attending the symposium at all. While he was eager to prove he was still the smartest man in the room, he was not looking forward to interacting with any of his so-called peers. Malcolm Tunney was sure to be there, with his smarmy, gloating expression and holier-than-thou attitude, Rodney reminded himself.
"All from stealing my research," he growled under his breath as he deleted another attempt at an opening for his lecture.
He knew he was not well-liked in the scientific community. That, along with the lack of publishing credentials, and Rodney had been shocked to receive the invitation at all. Which was why he had hoped to talk Sheppard into coming with him. It would have been nice to have one friendly, if disinterested, face in the crowd of snickering and whispered rumor-mongering he was sure to encounter.
"It's not like you haven't dealt with the jealousy and pettiness before," Rodney told himself and started typing. "Just show up, watch Tunney's face as you accept the accolades he probably thinks he should be getting instead, and come back to Atlantis just as fast as the Daedalus can carry you."
Rodney was making yet another attempt at his opening an hour later when Zelenka walked into the lab carrying a tablet computer in one hand.
"Rodney, you need to see …" Radek stopped and studied him for a moment. "What is wrong?"
"Nothing," Rodney told him. He grimaced at the screen and tried to ignore Zelenka.
Radek walked around the work table and peered at the text on the computer screen. "Having problems with your speech?"
Rodney closed the computer and glared at Radek. "Is there something you needed?"
Zelenka stepped back and held out the computer in his hand. "The MALP we sent to M2R-287 sent back the first telemetry packet. There is something I think you should see."
Rodney stared at him for a moment longer, then took the computer and read the data on the screen. "Breathable atmosphere, nothing unusual in the chemical analysis. Scattered life signs." He looked up from the computer. "What's so earth-shattering you had to come barging in here interrupting -"
"Your battle with writer's block?" Zelenka asked with a raised eyebrow.
Rodney scowled at him, and Radek shook his head. "It was not in the analysis," he explained. "It was this." He tapped the computer, and Rodney saw a series of grainy images that resembled a multi-domed structure built into the hills.
Rodney squinted at the image. "What is it?"
"We don't know," Radek replied. "The analysis team doesn't think it's Ancient, but the pictures are too low resolution to be certain."
"Who else could have built something this massive?" Rodney asked, more to himself than to Zelenka.
"That is why I thought you would want to see it," Radek said. "The analysis team needs to make a recommendation to Doctor Weir about a survey mission to the planet. They wanted a second opinion on the origins of the building before they submitted their report."
"It's definitely something we need to investigate," Rodney said as he studied the images again. "I should have plenty of time -"
"Umm," Radek said. "That's not … I believe Doctor Weir intends to send Sergeant Stackhouse's team once she has the final report on the planet."
"Not if I have anything to say about it," Rodney growled and stood from the work table. He caught the frown on Radek's face as he turned toward the door. "What?"
"Maybe Doctor Weir is correct, and someone else should go," he said softly.
"Are you kidding?" Rodney exclaimed. "This could be an entirely new civilisation. Who knows what we could discover."
"I believe that is what she is afraid of," Radek muttered.
"Excuse me?"
"I just meant that after everything Colonel Sheppard went through due to the time dilation field, perhaps Doctor Weir believes he is not ready to return to the field quite yet." Radek glanced at him over the top of his glasses. "Have you talked to him at all since your return from P2J-621?"
Rodney paused near his desk. He had tried asking more about what Sheppard had experienced inside the sanctuary at dinner the other night. He had been curious about how John had survived for what he thought was six months. And then there was everything with the dark-haired woman who had wanted Sheppard to ascend with the rest of them. Even Rodney could tell there had been something special between them. However, John hadn't said much, and Rodney had let the subject drop after a few awkward questions.
Maybe Zelenka was right for once, he thought to himself.
Rodney glanced down at the image of the building on the computer screen. Was Sheppard ready to jump back into exploring new planets yet? he wondered. Maybe he should talk to Elizabeth and simply invite himself along with Stackhouse's team instead.
He wandered out of the lab, Zelenka's tablet still in his hand, and walked up the hall to the transporter. He heard Radek grumbling behind him about taking the computer, but Rodney ignored him as he tabbed through the rest of the information from the MALP.
He stepped out of the transporter a moment later and promptly walked into Sheppard.
"Watch where you're going, Rodney," Sheppard said as he made a grab for the tablet slipping from Rodney's hand. "What's this?" he asked as the MALP data flashed across the screen.
"Oh, umm, nothing," Rodney said and tried to take the computer back.
"Interesting building," John added as he studied the screen.
"That's what I said when Zelenka showed it to me," Rodney replied. "It doesn't look Ancient to me, which could mean there was another advanced race in the Pegasus galaxy."
"So let's go talk to Elizabeth about a trip out to, what planet is this again?" John asked as he studied the computer screen.
"M2R-287," Rodney replied with a hesitant glance from the computer to Sheppard.
"What's wrong?"
"Umm, according to Zelenka, Elizabeth plans to send Stackhouse's team, not us. I guess she thought, with everything that happened with the time dilation field, you -"
Sheppard growled something under his breath and handed back the computer. "Come on."
"Where are we going?" Rodney asked as he fell into step beside Sheppard.
"To talk to Elizabeth about a mission to M2R-287."
~*~*~*~ SGA ~*~*~*~
Rodney followed Sheppard through the 'gate to M2R-287 later that afternoon and wandered over to the DHD as he pulled the Ancient scanner out of his vest pocket. Teyla stood next to Sheppard near the 'gate while Ronon scouted the rest of the clearing. It was a nice day on the planet, sunny and warm, a nice change from the stormy weather back in the city.
He pressed several keys on the scanner and waited for it to show him the results. "The scanner is reporting the same scattered life signs as the MALP," Rodney said a few seconds later.
"Colonel, are you all right?" Teyla asked, and Rodney looked up from the device in his hand.
"I'm fine," Sheppard replied and took a few steps away from the 'gate.
Teyla and Ronon exchanged a worried glance as Sheppard adjusted his grip on the P-90 and walked away from them. Rodney watched as Sheppard walked over the edge of the clearing and focused on the nearby trees.
"What's with him?" Rodney asked with a puzzled frown.
"Perhaps you should have warned him about the planet before we left," Teyla replied in a patient tone.
"Warned him about what?" Rodney asked. "He saw all the same data I did."
"Does this not look familiar?" Teyla asked with a nod to the open field.
Rodney glanced from the field of high grass dotted with flowers to the nearby trees and shrugged. "Not really."
Teyla shook her head and took a step toward Sheppard standing near the edge of the field.
"What?" Rodney asked, still unclear what the big deal was. The planet looked like any number of worlds they had visited in the last year and a half.
"It looks like the field where we found Sheppard," Ronon told him as he walked past.
"Does it? "Rodney asked, looking around. "I didn't really notice."
"Are we going to find this building or not?" Sheppard said with a glare. "Which way do we need to go, McKay?"
Rodney glanced at Teyla when he heard the impatience in Sheppard's tone. Okay, maybe standing in the clearing was a big deal, after all, he realised.
"Umm, according to the MALP, the structure is built into a series of low hills west of here."
"That way," Ronon said and pointed in front of them.
Sheppard nodded and gripped the P-90 in his hand. "Take point," he said to Ronon. "I've got our six."
Ronon nodded and led the way into the trees in front of them. Teyla followed him and Rodney walked a step behind her, still checking the scanner every now and then. He made a few surreptitious glances behind him at Sheppard, but John made a show of ignoring him as he scanned their back trail.
The forest wasn't very dense, and sunlight dappled the ground as they walked. Rodney heard the buzzing of unseen insects every now and then, and he forced himself not to jump when Ronon startled a flock of tiny black birds into panicked flight in front of them.
"You have not said much about the scientific exploration of the mainland lately," Teyla said with a glance at Rodney as they walked. "How is Doctor Brown?"
Rodney looked up from the scanner with a shrug. "Fine, I guess."
Teyla smiled, and Rodney thought he heard a snicker from Sheppard walking a few paces behind them.
"Halling told me a group of the scientists was interested in seeking out some of the deer and other animals living in the forest surrounding the village to … tag them?" Teyla asked.
"The biologists want to see if they can track migration patterns," Rodney replied and stopped short when he saw a blip on the scanner screen. "Whoa, that wasn't there before."
"What?" Sheppard asked and whistled to Ronon ahead of them.
Ronon stopped and turned around.
"There's a low-level energy reading coming from the same direction as the buildings," Rodney explained.
"And you're only bringing it up now?" Sheppard asked with an impatient glare.
"It wasn't there before," Rodney told him. "The MALP didn't pick up anything before we arrived, either. Whatever is causing it, it must be intermittent."
Sheppard grimaced. "All right, how close are we?"
Rodney checked the scanner. "About half a mile."
"Okay, Ronon -" Sheppard started to say.
"Huh," Rodney murmured and looked up at the surrounding trees. When did the insect noises stop? he wondered.
"Now what?" Sheppard asked.
"I'm not getting any life sign readings," Rodney replied, still staring at the trees. "That's … odd."
"I thought you said the planet was deserted," Ronon said.
"I did," Rodney replied. "The MALP didn't find any indications of a civilisation still living here."
"So what's the problem?" Ronon asked.
Rodney looked up from the scanner with a scowl. "You aren't getting it. There are no life signs anywhere within a two-mile radius of us. No animals. Nothing."
"Perhaps the area is unsafe for some reason," Teyla suggested.
Rodney gave her a startled glance and checked the scanner again.
"No chemical signatures of note," Rodney said as he tabbed through the various screens on the scanner. "No radiation readings, either."
"Maybe it's just a fluke," Sheppard said.
Rodney shrugged and stared suspiciously at the surrounding trees again. "Maybe."
"Ronon," Sheppard added and jerked his chin in the direction they'd been walking. "Keep your eyes open, though."
Ronon nodded and pulled the particle weapon out of its holster.
Rodney watched as Teyla and Sheppard gripped their P-90s a little tighter and then followed behind Teyla as Ronon set out through the last of the trees.
The low hills came into view as they left the forest ten minutes later.
"That's not one building," Ronon said as Rodney stared at the series of low domes built into the valley between two hills.
"And it's definitely not Ancient," Rodney agreed as he stared at the cluster of buildings in front of them.
"Ronon," John said and pointed to the left side of the first dome. "I'll go right. Teyla, you and McKay stay here."
"And do what?" Rodney asked.
"Let us know if you see anything on the scanner," John replied. He waited until Rodney nodded, then signalled to Ronon, walked to the edge of the dome, and peered around the side of the building.
Rodney watched Sheppard and Ronon disappear, then focused on the scanner.
"Rodney?" Teyla asked after several minutes.
"Still nothing except us on the scanner," Rodney replied. "Sheppard must not have found anything either. They're both on their way back."
John and Ronon walked back into the open area in front of the first dome. "We're all clear," John said as he looked up at the dome standing a dozen or more meters high in front of them. "Anyone have any ideas?" he asked as he walked over to the dome, rapped on the door with his knuckles, and called, "Hello?"
"What are you going to do if someone answers?" Rodney asked with a sarcastic glance at Sheppard.
"There's no one here," John said as he ran one hand over the door. "Do you have any better ideas?"
"I'm working on it," Rodney replied. He shook his head and muttered, "There's something strange about these readings."
He tapped the screen and stared at the data regarding the material composition of the dome, unwilling to believe what it was telling him. "Oh, no," he whispered. "We need to get out of here," he said with a panicked look at Sheppard and then the dome. "Now."
"Why?" Ronon asked.
"This," Rodney waved his hand at the buildings, " all of this was made by -"
"Wraith," Teyla said as the door opened at her touch.
~*~*~*~ SGA ~*~*~*~
John jerked the P-90 up and aimed at the open door. After a few seconds, when they weren't attacked, he crept closer to the door and played the beam from the barrel light over the walls just inside the door.
Well, the Wraith are consistent, at least, John thought to himself when he saw the same semi-organic walls as those inside a hive ship. Strangely, there wasn't the same odor of decay. Instead, there was only the musty smell of age, and looking down, John noted the thick layer of dust on the floor.
"No footprints," Ronon said as he stopped next to John.
"Yeah, I noticed that," John replied.
Go or stay? he wondered as he played the light over the corridor again.
John glanced behind him. "Rodney, is the scanner picking up anything?"
Rodney tapped the screen for the scanner, then shook his head. "Nothing. But -"
"Yeah, I know," John said with another look down the corridor, "the scanner doesn't pick up Wraith when they are hibernating."
"So, do we keep going or not?" Ronon asked.
"That low-level energy reading is definitely coming from somewhere inside the building," Rodney said. "Something in there is still working."
John rechecked the hallway and pursed his lips. It made sense the Wraith would have outposts and research bases similar to the Ancients, he just never expected to find one so easily. He checked the entrance again.
Was there a catch? he wondered. Some trap he wasn't seeing? The last thing he needed was a repeat of the incident with the energy barrier protecting the sanctuary.
He glanced back at Teyla and Rodney. McKay ignored him as he fiddled with the Ancient scanner while Teyla looked back at him and said, "I do not sense any Wraith, Colonel."
John blew out a breath and made his decision. The discovery of any interesting Wraith technology aside, the potential for intel demanded they keep going.
"All right, we'll take a look around," John said. "Can you pinpoint where the energy reading is coming from?" he asked with another glance at Rodney.
Rodney poked at the scanner and made a face. "The reading is still faint," he said a moment later. "And it isn't consistent."
John heard Ronon growl something under his breath and had to agree. "McKay, I need a direction."
Rodney huffed out a breath. "South. That's the best I can do."
"Is there a problem with the scanner?" Teyla asked. "Would the Wraith have shielded the structure in some way from the Ancestors?"
Rodney shook his head. "No, we picked up the energy reading before you opened the door, remember? My best guess is the power source is almost depleted. Whatever is still functioning in there won't be for much longer." He gave John a pointed look and added, "Maybe once we're inside, I can narrow things down more."
John nodded and glanced at Ronon, then back at Teyla and Rodney. "Stay sharp. Just because the scanner isn't picking up anything doesn't mean we're alone."
Rodney swallowed and tightened his hold on the scanner with one hand while he pulled a small flashlight out of his vest pocket.
John signalled for Ronon to lead the way, and Dex stepped through the door, his particle weapon at the ready.
"Rodney, stay behind me," John ordered. "Teyla, you have our six," he added.
Teyla nodded and readied her weapon.
John waited until Ronon was a few paces inside the building, then followed, his P-90 raised and his senses alert for signs of Wraith.
The main door opened on a short corridor that ended in a T junction fifty feet or so inside the building. John stood on one side of their passage, Ronon took the other, watching him. John silently counted to three, and together they stepped into the junction, their weapons pointed down different hallways.
"Clear," John said.
"No one this way, either," Ronon reported.
"Rodney, which way?" John asked, still watching the hallway in front of him.
"The energy reading is still intermittent," Rodney reported. "Hang on, the scanner is still trying to render a map of the hallways."
Several seconds went by, and John felt his impatience growing. "McKay!" he hissed and chanced a glance behind him.
"I'm working on it, Colonel," Rodney retorted. He handed his tiny flashlight to Teyla and tapped on the screen. He looked up at John a moment later and added, "Okay, the reading is definitely coming from the south side of the building. Go in that direction," he pointed down the corridor John was watching, "and when the hallway splits, take the right-hand passage."
John nodded, waited until Ronon had his flank, and led the way down the hall.
Unlike the entrance hall, the corridor they followed twisted and curved for no apparent reason. The walls around them were covered in sheets of a thin membranous material while ropes and tendrils of the same material crawled up the walls. John gave one of the tendrils a longer look as he passed. A dim light glowed from behind the membrane in a few places where the tendrils tangled together, and John wondered if they acted like power conduits.
There were few rooms along the corridor. None of the doors leading into the rooms were closed, and John and Ronon took turns checking the rooms, making sure they were empty before they continued down the twisting corridor.
"You're sure we're going the right way?" John asked and glanced back at Rodney as the hallway curved again.
Rodney checked the scanner and nodded. "The reading is more to that way," he pointed to the right, "but according to the scanner, there should be a junction at the end of this corridor that will lead in the right direction."
John nodded and jerked his chin for Ronon to take the lead.
They were almost to the junction when Ronon stopped and held up a hand, signalling another room. John waited until Ronon entered, then followed. Unlike the other rooms they had found, this one wasn't empty. John heard a hiss behind him and turned to see Teyla staring at one of the narrow alcoves built into the wall and the skull visible through the thin membrane covering the opening for the compartment.
John checked a few more of the alcoves and found many contained skeletons still standing inside, supported by the sinewy tendrils curling around the bones.
"Larder," Ronon said as he walked around the room.
"Yeah," John agreed, his expression somber as he turned away from the skeleton.
"Umm, any idea how many more of these we're likely to find?" Rodney asked as he backed away from another skeleton and stood near the doorway.
Ronon shrugged. "Building this size, probably a lot."
"I was afraid you'd say that," Rodney muttered and focused on the scanner in his hand.
"Let's go," John said and led the way back into the corridor.
John walked to the end of the hallway and checked both directions. There was still no sign of Wraith or any indication anyone had been inside the building recently, and he turned down the right-hand passage.
The building was also bigger than John expected, and their progress was slowed by not only the dim light and the convoluted hallways but by the increased number of rooms they found. Most were laid out like the labs they had found in Atlantis, with rows of long tables lined down the center of the rooms and storage cabinets along the walls.
"We are going to need a lot more people out here," Rodney said as they left another of the abandoned labs.
"One thing at a time," John reminded him. "How much farther is it to this energy reading of yours?"
Rodney looked down at the scanner. "It should be in the next hallway," he replied and pointed to the new corridor in front of them.
John jerked his chin at Ronon, and Dex checked the new hallway. "Clear," he reported and took the lead.
After a few more twists and turns, the corridor split again. A sealed double door, the first closed door they had found, faced in one direction, and the hallway continued in the other.
Ronon glanced at the door, then back at John before he turned down the new corridor.
"Stop!" Rodney said as John was about to follow Dex. "This is it," he added as he stuffed the scanner back in his vest pocket and pointed to the closed double doors. He stepped around John and examined the door and the nearby panel embedded in the wall.
From what John could see, the panel wasn't like the door sensors in Atlantis or a keypad like the secure doors on Earth. Instead, the panel was shaped like an elongated S with a series of five yellow buttons embedded along the curves.
John watched as Rodney pressed the buttons from top to bottom, then glanced at the door, but nothing happened. He tried pushing the buttons from bottom to top, and again, the door remained stubbornly sealed. Rodney grumbled something under his breath about the easy solution and went back to examining the panel.
"Perhaps I could try?" Teyla asked, after several more failed attempts by Rodney to open the door.
"I don't think the Wraith gene is enough," Rodney said as he tried another sequence.
"Let Teyla have a crack at it," John told him with a glance back toward the junction.
Rodney glared up at him, but John didn't back down. "We're due to check-in in two hours," he reminded McKay. "If we don't get inside this room soon, we'll need to go back to Elizabeth and tell her the mission was a bust."
"Fine," Rodney replied and stepped back. "Be my guest," he added, and waved Teyla toward the door with bad grace.
Rodney stood with his arms crossed over his chest as Teyla tried pressing the buttons in various combinations, then pressed her hands against the doors and pushed, but still nothing happened.
"If you don't mind?" Rodney asked sarcastically as Teyla stepped back from the door. "It's obvious the door requires some sort of code. Assuming since there are five buttons, it's a five-digit code, though it's possible one or more of the buttons could repeat -"
"Three thousand one hundred twenty-five," John said. "The number of possible combinations," he explained when Ronon glanced at him and quirked an eyebrow.
"Yes, thank you," Rodney said with an impatient glare at John as he pried the cover off the panel and studied the hole in the wall. "Lovely," he muttered, and grimaced as he reached inside the hole and pulled out a tendril of organic material with a bundle of wires entwined around and through the ropey strand.
He separated the wires from each other and proceeded to touch one of the wire ends to the others. On his third attempt, the wires sparked, and the double doors parted in the middle and slid open.
"Good job," John said as he followed Ronon inside the room.
Unlike the other rooms they had found, this one had an upright console to the right of the door, facing a large empty space on the wall that was surrounded by more of the twisted tendrils. The console had several protuberances jutting out around the edges and more of the rounded buttons similar to those on the door panel in the center. Openings along the wall to the left of the door led to smaller rooms, each with its own smaller console and screen setup.
"It looks like a control room of some sort," Rodney said as he walked over to the central console in the room.
"Controlling what?" John asked. "We're inside a building, not in a ship."
"I don't know yet," Rodney replied, and studied the console. "I've had some practice translating Wraith over the last few months. I'll figure it out. Just give me some time."
He squinted at the bumps along the edge of the console and pressed one. The membrane covering the wall in front of the console started to glow, and John watched as a line of text scrolled from the bottom to the top of the screen.
Rodney studied the text for a moment, then pressed another button. "I think this complex was some sort of major research outpost," he said after pressing a few more of the buttons and studying the text that crawled across the wall. "From what I can translate, the Wraith were researching everything from new weapons designs -"
"What sort of weapons?" Ronon asked.
Rodney looked over at Dex and shook his head. "You're as bad as he is," he said and jerked his head in John's direction. "The mere mention of a new gun to play with -"
"Just answer the question," John interrupted.
Rodney scowled at Sheppard. "From the little I can translate, it looks like they were trying to create something similar to the drone weapons used by the Ancients."
"How far did they get?" John asked.
"Hard to say," Rodney replied as he studied the screen. "I haven't really gone beyond the major log headers."
He pressed something on the console and the data on the screen changed. "If I'm reading this right, they were also looking into hyperdrive theory and researching different energy sources. Huh," he muttered and pressed another button, then twisted the knob-like protrusion on the right-hand side of the console.
"What?" John asked.
"We know the Wraith didn't have access to power sources like the Zed-PMs used in Atlantis. It's one reason their hyperdrive systems, for example, are only interstellar and not intergalactic." He looked back at the screen. "According to this, the Wraith were trying to figure out a way to generate power at the same level as a Zed-PM."
"Were they successful?" Teyla asked.
"No, which is probably a good thing for everyone in the galaxy," Rodney replied as he pressed another button on the console. He studied the screen for several more seconds, then looked over at John. "I need to get more people out here. It will take weeks to sort out everything in just this building. Who knows what might be in the others."
"What about your symposium?" Teyla asked. "You said it was an important meeting and that many of your fellow scientists would be there."
Rodney shrugged and focused on the console. "This takes precedence," he replied, pressed another button on the console, and glanced at the screen.
"Rodney," John drawled, but McKay spoke over him.
"Carson is going to want to see this." Rodney twisted the knob again, and a series of diagrams flashed on the screen.
"Is that?" John asked as the images froze on a familiar double helix.
"Yeah, I think it is," Rodney replied. "It looks like someone was studying Wraith genetics."
"Why?" Ronon asked.
Rodney looked up with a glare. "Do I look like a biologist?"
Ronon took a step toward Rodney and clenched his hands.
"It could have been anything," Rodney continued, ignoring Ronon's angry scowl. "Maybe the Wraith wanted to understand more about their regenerative abilities, or they wanted to find ways to improve their telepathic communication. Who knows. The point is, we potentially have a treasure trove of information on the Wraith themselves in addition to whatever we might learn about their technology."
"All right, we need to get back to Atlantis and let Elizabeth know what we've found," John said and motioned Rodney toward the door.
Rodney made a disgruntled face and glanced at the console.
"Don't even think about it," John said as the lights flickered. "You're not staying here."
"Fine," Rodney replied. He powered down the console and followed Ronon out of the room.
"We're going to need to bring the portable generators back with us," Rodney said as they walked back through the dim hallways. "Hopefully, I can figure out enough about the power systems in here so we can at least see where we're going. And I'll need to figure out a way to interface our computers with the Wraith systems so we can download whatever database files I can find. Ship designs, weapons systems, and I'm sure Carson will want any of the medical files we can access for his retrovirus research."
"I thought Doctor Beckett stopped his experiments with the retrovirus after what happened to Colonel Sheppard," Teyla said as they exited the building.
John shuddered at the memory of slowly turning into a giant bug. He hadn't been happy when Weir gave Beckett the go-ahead to continue with his plan of altering the Wraith, but he could see the strategic benefits of the idea.
"No, he's just taking his time and making sure there aren't any more mistakes," Rodney said to Teyla.
"Still think it's a bad idea," Ronon said. "You can make them look as human as you like, they're still going to be Wraith."
"I agree with Ronon," Teyla said. "I do not believe such an experiment will end well."
"It doesn't matter what we think," John told her. "Weir signed off on letting Beckett continue, that's all that matters. If this," he waved a hand at the building in the distance behind them, "can help, all the better."